The Life of a Showgirl was Taylor Swift’s worst album. Its encore is a whole lot sharper

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Oh, sorry. I must be thinking of another Taylor Swift, the one who said her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, would not receive a deluxe edition or bonus tracks. “This is the record I’ve been wanting to make for a very long time,” that other Taylor told us on her now-husband’s podcast a year ago. “There’s not other ones coming,” she said of the possibility of more songs.

I know. It’s on me that I took those words at face value, and I’ll admit that was wishful thinking on my part. As a historically steadfast Swift fan, I didn’t relish disliking The Life of a Showgirl as much as I did and still do. I clung to hope that Swift’s latest musical era would fizz into the next without incident – and that whatever came after Showgirl would feature fewer double entendres about redwood trees and hard rocks. (Ew.)

But earlier this week, Swift announced – surprise! – that The Life of a Showgirl would be receiving an encore in the form of four bonus tracks.

Listen: I’m still annoyed Swift backtracked on the “no deluxe” bluster of this album’s 2025 rollout. And, for now, The Life of a Showgirl continues to sit at the bottom of my personal ranking of Swift’s creative output.

But the four new tracks – Patient Zero, Cleveland!, Pink Clouding and Babylon – are markedly better than the rest of Swift’s record-shattering record. It’s hard not to wish that we’d had these songs this time last year. (And that they’d replaced such disasters as – ugh – Cancelled!)

Then again, the new tracks introduce us to a version of Swift who didn’t quite exist when The Life of a Showgirl dropped last October. Swift’s a married lady now – you may have heard a thing or two about her and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden this summer – and on the knowingly obnoxious Cleveland!, she shares at length how little she cares if you don’t like her. “This is the love of my life,” she croons as festive jingle bells rattle in the background. There’s little doubt she means it.

On Cleveland!’s schmaltzy bridge, she speaks plainly: “You only need to find one person in this entire world who doesn’t find you completely insufferable, and I have an important announcement to make. I found mine!” Cleveland!, whose exclamation point suggests a sort-of sequel to 2024’s far less cheerful Florida!!!, lands like a postcard from her honeymoon: This is unapologetic bliss, says Swift, and she’s sharing it with anyone who will listen.

Patient Zero, whose starry music video will premiere at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sunday evening, returns to more familiar sonic territory for Swift. Stacked vocals à la Midnights or Reputation tell a story of commiseration: “If you’re sick of him, I got you, I was patient zero,” she confides as a descending string refrain pushes the confession ever-forward.

Had Patient Zero been included in The Life of a Showgirl’s original release, that album might have left more of an impact beyond its sales numbers. Now, the track feels like a dangling jewel, not quite anchored to its surrounding project but ultimately shinier in its lyrics and production.

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Pink Clouding might be the encore’s weakest entry, a mishmash of Enya-ish vocals and mixed metaphors tied to the colour pink. The low-hanging lyrics of Showgirl’s main album rear their heads here: “He crossed my heart, I hoped to die,” she murmurs on its second verse. (Groan.)

But she soon returns to her hot streak with Babylon, a haunting, ambiguous closing track that calls back to the nostalgic poetry of 2020’s Folklore and Evermore. Swift riffs on order, chaos and the real life that happens in between, weighing the cost of desire versus ambition: “Twenty watches in the safe ‘cause your time is money,” she sings. “Love is ice upon the ladder that you need to climb.”

There’s no doubt Swift’s climbed whatever ladders she once dreamed of climbing – she’s among the richest, most creatively prolific artists of her generation. She’s successful enough that oddities such as Showgirl’s there-will-be-no-deluxe deluxe edition chafe more than they might if they came from another musician. Surely, if any singer-songwriter has the means to stick to their intended creative vision – even one as frustratingly banal as The Life of a Showgirl’s – it’s Swift.

Oh, well. She’s happy; she wants us to know about it. And she’s been saying it herself for 12 months now: A showgirl knows to save her best tricks for the grand finale. Mission accomplished. (Mostly.)

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